BETHEL – It’s not the first time Scott Cole has asked for money for the Bethel Airport, and it won’t be the last.

Appearing before the Oxford County Commissioners at a budget meeting Wednesday, the Bethel Town Manager said the county should fund all regional airports equally.

Otherwise, he said, “Perhaps the county would consider getting out of the airport business altogether.”

The entire Oxford County Airport budget comes to about $45,000 per year, Cole said. Last year the airport took in $15,744 in revenue, leaving a balance of $29,256 to be covered by taxpayers, he said.

The Bethel and Fryeburg airports were once allotted $3,000 a year by the county, but that amount was reduced to $2,000 a few years back, Cole said.

He proposed the county allot all three airports $29,256.

“We submit this request with a straight face,” Cole said after the meeting. “As a matter of principle, we have to ask.”

He said he has made the request for three or four years in a row, to no avail.

On Wednesday, the county commissioners did not discuss or respond to Cole’s statements.

In a letter to the commissioners and Budget Committee, Cole said the county should stop accepting federal and state grants for the Oxford airport if it is concerned with saving taxpayer dollars. Many grants require a 20-year commitment to running the airport, he said.

“When accepted, these grants serve to restart the 20-year clock and virtually guarantee an increase in county airport expenditures for years to come,” Cole wrote.

“Airports don’t pay their own way,” he pointed out after the meeting. “There’s always a taxpayer (commitment).”